New distillery brings innovation potential to Pottstown

When new business comes to Pottstown, we are pleased to welcome the opportunity for jobs, revenue, and a boost to the economy.

When that new business has a unique and creative twist to it, it brings the added advantage of generating positive publicity as an innovator.

Such is the case with the announcement that a group of local investors is planning to open a craft distillery to manufacture “Pennsylvania Whiskey.”

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The new business will be located in the Circle of Progress where it will partner with its neighbor Sly Fox Brewing Company, utilizing the brew works for the wash to make the whiskey.

The business is called “Manatawny Still Works,” and plays off the Lenape name for Manatawny Creek as “the place we meet to drink.”

The idea for the still works began as a casual conversation among five people, now partners — John Giannopoulos, Jeff Vaughan, Paul Czachor, Al Matarazzo and Derek Menaldino – and 12 months later resulted in “the first, small-batch distillery in Montgomery County since 1969,” according to a press release from the company.

The group represents a faith in Pottstown as a business destination. Giannopoulos is part of the Sly Fox Brewing Company family, which moved its craft beer brewing operation to Circle of Progress from Phoenixville. Matarazzo brought Main Line Financial to Pottstown, and Menaldino is a partner in the investment firm.

Sly Fox brewery is an example of the larger benefit of entrepreneurship. The brewery expanded in its move here and pioneered an innovative technology in canning beer, an innovation that has gotten rave reviews among craft beer enthusiasts and is associated with Pottstown.

Manatawny Still Works has the potential to generate more of that positive buzz, er, publicity.

“There is a lot of history with liquor and spirits in Pennsylvania,” says Manatawny Still Works distiller Max Pfeffer. “Not only will we concentrate on the more traditional spirits like vodka, rum, and whiskey, but we’ll do some seasonal small batches that will only be available in our tasting room at the distillery.”

Pfeffer studied chemical engineering at Penn State University before completing the Master Brewer Program at UC Davis in California. He honed his skills further with stops at Victory Brewing Company and Sly Fox before accepting responsibility of operating Manatawny Still Works. His knowledge of Sly Fox’s operation will move to the distillery, which will have a working partnership with its beer-brewing neighbor.

Pfeffer is currently overseeing the installation of an Italian-made, 1,200-liter still from Barison Industry. He will oversee the day-to-day operations at the distillery when it opens in February.

Currently, the whiskey barrels are stacked and awaiting the first batches to come off the stills. But it will be two years before for the new distillery’s signature spirit, “Pennsylvania Whiskey,” hits the market.

In the meantime, the distillery has plans to launch with an un-aged white whiskey aptly named Virgin Whiskey, and a light rum called “Sedition.”

“Manatawny Still Works” can be read two ways. Either way, this work in progress is economic good news to Pottstown.